Michelle's Story
by ColeNichols
Summary: Vice City, 1980: Kicked out of her home, 16-year-old Michelle Wendell finds herself broke and homeless. Her only hope is Anna Baker, who offers her work and a place to stay.
1. Ken Raymond's Party

Ken Raymond's Party, Starfish Island, Vice City, Tuesday, January 1, 1980:

"Happy New Year!" The shouting echoed through the rooms of the large mansion, led on by their host, Ken Raymond. Michelle Wendell raised her beer in an exaggerated toast. She'd already done a number of shots, in addition to a lot of beer, and was so drunk she could barely stand up. She didn't normally drink like this, but tonight she had good reason. She wasn't celebrating anything. Earlier that day, somehow, her parents had found out that she was gay and had thrown her out. Sixteen years old, homeless, with nothing but ten bucks and the clothes on her back, she'd remembered hearing about Ken Raymond's party at his mansion on Starfish Island, and had spent her last ten dollars taking a taxi there, where she'd begun drinking her sorrows away for the night. Why not? She had nowhere else to go, nothing else to do.

Presently, two drunken girls began to make out, and equally drunken boys began to cheer them on. Before she'd been found out, Michelle would have been jealous of those girls, but now the sight nearly reduced her to tears. They were all so happy, so excited for the new decade, and here she was, broke and homeless and with no idea as to what she was going to do. She stumbled away from the crowd, wandering drunkenly around the mansion, finally finding an empty bedroom. She fell facedown on the covers and began to sob.

Some time passed, how long she wasn't sure. It was long enough that she'd stopped crying. That's when she heard the footsteps behind her. She rolled over in the bed and saw a man standing over her. The man put his hands on her thighs, running them under her skirt.

"No! Stop!" Michelle shouted.

"Shh," the man said, placing a hand over her mouth. "Just lie back and take it. You know you want it."

The man unzipped and lowered his pants and boxers, climbed on top of Michelle. She tried to knee him in the balls, but he'd pinned her legs underneath his.

"Hey, I think you'd better let her go." It was a third person, one that neither one of them had seen enter. It was a welcome distraction, as the man climbed off of her, moved to confront this third person.

"What if I don't?" the man asked threateningly.

He groaned and collapsed to the floor. Michelle saw another young woman, about her age, maybe a little older, now that he was out of the way.

"Come on," the young woman said. "Let's go."

As Michelle got out of bed, she looked down. The man who'd just tried to rape her was lying on the floor, motionless, bleeding. A knife handle was sticking out of his sternum. The mysterious young woman pulled her out of the room and started leading her down the hall.

"What's your name?"

"Michelle. Michelle Wendell."

"Well, Michelle, I'm Anna Baker. Nice to meet you. I wish it could have been under better circumstances."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm going to take you home. Where do you live?"

"I don't have a home."

"You don't have a home?"

"My parents threw me out today."

"Well, okay, I can let you crash on my couch tonight. Are you okay with that? I live alone so you'll definitely be safe there."

"Yes. Thank you."

"Okay, I'll take you to my car."

The young woman led Michelle to her car, a black 1969 Ford Galaxie, opened the front passenger door, let her sit down.

"Hey, can I leave you here for five minutes? I need to tell Ken what happened."

Michelle nodded, and the woman ran off. By the time she'd gotten back to the car, Michelle had finally passed out from drinking so much.


	2. Michelle and Anna Chat

Michelle and Anna Chat, Anna's Apartment, Little Haiti, Tuesday, January 1, 1980:

Michelle woke up on a threadbare sofa, a thin blanket draped over her. Her head was throbbing. It felt like someone had hit her with a baseball bat. She groaned in pain. She looked around the unfamiliar room, trying to figure out where she was. She wasn't in her home, but then she remembered her parents confronting her, throwing her out. Her brother liked girls. Why couldn't she?

That still left the question of where she was. She thought back, remembered the events of the night before. She remembered that guy trying to…had he? No, then that woman had come in and…oh God! She'd killed him! Then they'd gotten in the car, and that was all she remembered.

Michelle heard a toilet flush, a brief burst of water from the sink as whoever just used the toilet washed their hands. She pulled herself into a sitting position, rubbing her head, which was throbbing with the effects of a hangover. Into the room stepped Anna.

"Good afternoon, Michelle," said Anna. "Can I get you anything?"

"Tylenol, please," she groaned.

Anna opened a bottle of Tylenol that was on top of the television that the sofa faced.

"You were pretty drunk last night. I figured you'd need some Tylenol to deal with the hangover. Would you like some water to wash it down?"

"No, thanks, I can swallow a pill."

Michelle took the pills that were offered, swallowed them.

"Do you have a bathroom I can use?"

"Sure."

Anna pointed to a door. Michelle walked into the bathroom and saw that Anna had put the lid to the toilet down. On the toilet lid was a towel. On top of the towel was a bag containing a bar of soap, a bottle of shampoo, a safety razor, a washcloth, a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste, and a comb. "Michelle" had been written on the bag in black Sharpie. Michelle used the toilet, and then took a shower, using the bag of supplies laid out for her. As she showered, the Tylenol kicked in, and her headache disappeared. When she was done showering, she got out, dried herself off, wiped the steam off the mirror, and combed her hair, which was coal-black even dry, instinctively parting it on the right. Her mother had hated men who'd parted their hair on the right and women who'd parted on the left. Michelle decided that she hated her mother for kicking her out of the house, mussed her hair, and combed it again, this time parting it on the left.

Michelle got back into the clothes she'd worn the day before, not having any other clothes to change into, and went back to the living room, where she saw Anna for the first time. Well, not the first time, but last night had been dark, and she'd been really drunk, and this morning she'd had a massive hangover. Anna wasn't huge, but at about five-eight, she towered over the five-one Michelle. Of course, at five-one, most people towered over Michelle. Michelle was of medium build, while Anna was skinnier, though Anna still outweighed the petite Michelle. Also unlike Michelle, Anna had light brown hair, though she also parted it on the left, and she large green eyes in contrast to Michelle's reddish-brown eyes.

Anna spoke, "You're welcome to stay here as long as you wish."

Michelle looked around. Anna's apartment was kind of a dump. Not only was the paint peeling, but there were also chunks of plaster missing, exposing the boards underneath. It was small. In fact, there was only one room other than the bathroom. A counter partially blocked off a corner that was the kitchen, and there was a bed against the wall, just behind the sofa, but that was about it. Still, that threadbare sofa was the only actual bed that Michelle had access to, and she wasn't going to complain. Still, she had to wonder.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Why not?"

"I'm sorry. It just seems weird. My own parents threw me out just because they found out I'm gay, and now a complete stranger is willing to put up with me."

"I went through the same thing. You see, I'm gay too. My parents went to pick me up at school one day and they saw me kissing my now ex-girlfriend. They freaked out and kicked me out. Fortunately, Ken Raymond found out and got his parents to give me work, and I eventually saved up enough to get this place."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It hurt at first, but now I feel nothing toward my parents. I don't even remember their first names. Fuck 'em both. Homophobic little fucks." Anna trailed off into a low grumble.

It might have gone on from there, but then the phone, a cheap plastic wall job, rang. Anna answered it, spoke with the caller briefly, and then hung up.

"We have a job tonight, Michelle, if you want to earn a little money."

"Well of course. I want to be of use."

"Ken wants us to be at his mansion at one in the morning. It's a quick job, it'll be less than an hour, we'll get a fairly decent sum of cash and go home. Sound good to you?"

"Sounds good to me."

Michelle's stomach grumbled.

Anna said, "Help yourself to whatever you want in the kitchen."

"Would you like anything?"

"No thanks, I just ate."

Michelle fried two eggs and a couple strips of bacon and sat down for a mid-afternoon breakfast.


	3. First Job

First Job, Ken Raymond's Mansion, Starfish Island, Wednesday, January 2, 1980:

Around midnight, the two women decided to head out toward Starfish Mansion. They knew that the trip shouldn't take a full hour, especially in the middle of the night, but you could never be sure with Vice City roads and traffic conditions. Michelle followed Anna to her '69 Ford. She hadn't realized it the night before, but the car was in terrible condition. The rear window was gone, the backseat was badly shredded, the fenders and the bottoms of the doors were rusted away, and the passenger-side wing mirror was gone.

Michelle climbed into the passenger seat of the car, and Anna twisted the key in the ignition. The car tried to start, but failed. On the second try, however, the car coughed and sputtered into life. Anna shifted the car into gear and the seven working cylinders of the V8 engine started to drag the car away toward Starfish Island.

"This is the sort of car you get for a hundred dollars," Anna explained through clenched teeth as she wrestled with the steering wheel, trying to keep the car going in a straight line.

The radio was on, and Michelle heard the DJ say in a deep, soothing voice, "This is Lionel Makepeace, and you're listening to Emotion 98.3."

An acoustic guitar began to strum, and Michelle recognized the song as "Driver's Seat" by Sniff 'N' The Tears. Michelle enjoyed listening to the song, as well as the next one, "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" by Joe Jackson. The song ended and turned into an ad just as the car pulled into the driveway. Anna put her foot to the brake, easing the car into a stop in front of the Raymond mansion. It was about ten minutes after midnight.

The women exited the car and Anna rang the doorbell. A long time passed, and Anna rang the bell again. Another long time passed, but the door opened. There stood Ken Raymond.

"Ah, good, you're here," he said. "I have a business deal going down at one. I'd like some extra security. It's going to be okay, I just want the extra protection to be safe."

"Where's the deal going down?" Anna asked.

"Right here. Just head inside and find a place where you can see the driveway."

The three of them walked inside and took a flight of stairs up to the second floor. They went into a bedroom which had a window overlooking the driveway.

Michelle asked, "What do I do if something does go wrong?"

Ken replied, "Use this." He reached into his coat and pulled out a .38 snub-nose revolver, handing it to her.

"Careful," he hissed as she took it. "It's loaded."

"Why do I need a gun?"

"In case something goes wrong. In case these guys try to rip me off or rob me."

"Oh my God!"

"Relax," Ken said. "I've done a few other deals with these people before. They're cool. You and Anna are just a safety precaution. That's all."

Ken left before Michelle could ask any further questions. After he left, Anna pulled out her gun, a .38 revolver much like the one Michelle had.

Michelle was more than a little alarmed that she was being asked to possibly turn a firearm against a fellow human being and asked, "What the hell is he buying anyway?"

"It's usually cocaine," Anna replied.

"Cocaine! You're in the drug trade? I'm in the drug trade?"

"Hey, don't knock it, it got me that little apartment and I got to complete high school, and it's going to do the same for you."

"I'm not sure I want to deal with drugs."

"Look, just work with me on this one deal, and tomorrow you can try to get a legitimate job. Cool?"

"All right, okay."

They looked out over the neatly manicured front lawn, split down the middle by the long driveway that ended in a circle surrounding a fountain just in front of the mansion. For a long time, nothing happened. Then, for a while, nothing continued to happen. Then there were a flash of headlights coming down the road, but they were just driving past the mansion. Then there was more nothing. Michelle and Anna were chatting about anything they could think to talk about just to keep themselves awake.

At long last, they saw headlights turn into the driveway and begin their approach toward the house. Michelle and Anna crouched beside the window, carefully watching as the car, now identifiable as a 1978 Pontiac Firebird, slowly navigated the driveway and went around the fountain. As the car approached, the headlights stopped illuminating the window, plunging the room into darkness, and the girls chanced looking through the window.

They saw two men get out of the Firebird, but they couldn't see either one of them very well, just silhouettes. Michelle could see that one of the men was carrying a pistol, though he was pointing it at the ground and didn't seem to be trying to intimidate Ken with it. Even so, she kept alert, the revolver in her hand, ready to snap over the windowsill in a couple of seconds.

Michelle heard the three men talk for a while. Then, the two guys got into their Firebird and drove off. She sighed with relief and lowered her weapon. A couple more minutes passed, and there was a knock on the doorframe. It was Ken. Anna got up and approached him. Michelle followed Anna.

"See," he said. "Told you there wasn't going to be an issue. Thank you for watching my back though."

"Sure thing," Anna responded. Michelle wanted to say the same thing, but the words caught in her throat.

Just as she was starting to get the words out, Ken continued, "Here's something for both of you." He reached into his pocket and gave each of them a $50 bill. "Thanks again. Have a good evening." He turned and walked away, before pausing again to say, "Oh, yeah, Michelle, you can keep the gun." Then he walked away for good.

Anna and Michelle went back to Anna's car. Anna started up the engine, and the radio came back on in the middle of "Wait A Million Years" by The Grass Roots. After that was an ad for "Release, the gum that shoots a load in your mouth."

By two in the morning, the women were back home. They sat on the couch and began to talk, keeping their voices low owing to the lateness of the night. Despite the lateness of the hour, neither one of them was particularly tired.

Anna went into the kitchen and came out with two bottles of beer, which she then popped the caps off of. She passed one to Michelle. She accepted the beer, thanking her host.

"You ever have a girlfriend?" Michelle asked.

"No. You?"

"No."

There was a long, awkward pause. Finally, Anna asked, "You want to play cards?"

"I only know five-card poker and Bullshit."

"Ah."

There was another pause.

"We could play a board game."

"That sounds good. What games do you have?"

"Risk and Monopoly."

"Monopoly sounds good."

Anna went off, before returning with an unopened Monopoly box.

"I don't play board games much," Anna said. "The drawbacks of living alone."

"Until yesterday."

"Until yesterday."

They opened the box and began their game of Monopoly. It took three hours and many beers, but Anna won the game in the end. By this point, it was very late, and both of the young women, pretty drunk at this point, were tired and ready to go to bed. Michelle lay down on the couch, pulling the blanket over her. Anna went into the bathroom to change into her pajamas, then switched off her lights and lay down on her bed in the corner of the room. Both women soon drifted off to sleep.


End file.
